Executive Modular Control of Heterogeneous Spacecraft Components and Agents

Paper number

IAC-06-D1.4.08

Author

Dr. Brian Glass, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Howard Cannon, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Scott Christa, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Dr. Jerome Johnson, United States

Coauthor

Mrs. Sarah Huffman, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Year

2006

Abstract

The Construction and Resource Untilization Explorer (CRUX) robotic lunar exploration prototype is comprised of  legacy instruments and spacecraft subsystems (many flown on earlier missions) as well as an automated drill.  The CRUX Executive Controller (CEC) provides the integration, top-level control, and process communication needed to link the components and software agents of CRUX together into an operational drilling and survcying prototype.

The core functionality of the CRUX Executive Controller (CEC) is its ability to integrate and control heterogeneous instruments and the CRUX platform subsystems.  This capability is built upon the MARTE Instrument Interface (MInI), which is a simple and flexible communications package that was originally developed to ease the software development and integration process for the Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE). MInI has supported the development of many instruments and control systems across a number of widely separated institutions in Spain, Texas, California, Oklahoma, and New York.  These mission pieces needed to be developed independently at separate home institutions, but yet come together during a short integration period and communicate across a number of different computing and control platforms.  MInI was developed in order to facilitate this process, and is the basis for the CEC. The CEC software approach is adapted from the Common Object Request Brokering Architecture (CORBA), thus enabling it to communicate seamlessly across a wide range of platforms and operating systems.  MInI is a client/server architecture, and allows any number of clients to connect to any number of servers. 

The architecture and MInI tools on which the CEC is based underwent several field tests in 2005.  In June 2005 the Executive and a Honeybee drill and several instruments and a core handling system were integrated and tested during drilling tests in a quarry in Santa Cruz, California.  The same set was shipped to Rio Tinto, Spain and integrated with a Spanish-developed Borehole Instection System probe prior to more drilling tests there in late 2005.  The CEC components were also tested successfully in daily use in permafrost drilling with a separate Honeybee drill and with realtime fault diagnosis and recovery in the Arctic (Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Canada) in 2005 and 2006.

Abstract document

IAC-06-D1.4.08.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-D1.4.08.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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